Second Chances
by Goldilocks775
Summary: After being thrown out of a second storey window, Holtz wakes up in 1987 after falling from the sky and squashing a man who introduces himself as Ray Stantz. Shocked to learn that she shouldn't exist, can Holtzmann get back to her own world before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello!**

 **This is my second Ghostbusters fanfiction. All these plot bunnies keep coming.**

 **My mind is just a field of rabbit poo.**

 **I hope you enjoy this! Please review!**

"Come and get your sandwich, come and get your sandwich please." Holtz walked down the dusty hallway to the bathroom, singing happily. "You want your little sandwich? Abby-"

The door suddenly swinged open with a creak. "Hello Jillian." Abby said, her face only a few inches from Holtzmann's.

Holtzmann was momentarily surprised at the closeness and the use of her first name, before shrugging it off. This must just be one of Abby's weird days.

"Hello Abby." Holtz waited for Abby to speak. "You ok?"

"I'm quite well." Abby said in a tone that was very unlike her normal one. She smiled widely, before turning away and walking down the hallway.

Holtz pulled a weird face at her friend's back, before following her down the hall.

"Abby! We got you a sandwich. You need food, man." Patty said, greeting her. Abby just smiled in that very non-Abby way.

Holtz leaned against the table, watching Abby curiously as she went through Holtzmann's spare parts pile. Abby put down a rubber hose and picked up a sturdy lead pipe that Holtz found in the dumpster outside her apartment.

"Ah! You found my pipe. I'm going to make a proton shotgun. Pretty cool, right?" When Abby didn't say anything, Holtz continued. "And if that doesn't work, we can just swing it around and break stuff, so it's kinda a win-win."

Abby's odd smile disappeared from her face in an instant. She glared at them before striding over to the wall where Holtz's new pack was hanging.

She ripped off the faraday cage.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Holtz yelled in horror, watching her best friend.

Abby ignored Holtzmann and struck it over and over with the pipe, sparks flying everywhere. Holtz was shocked. Abby knew how much her inventions meant to her. This move was a real punch in the gut.

"NOT MY BABIES!" Holtz roared. She ran over to Abby and tried to grab the pipe away from her. Abby pushed her arm away. Holtz grabbed her and tried to drag her away.

Abby twisted her arm and threw her across the room, where she crashed to the ground. Holtz yelped as she struck her head on the grubby floor.

"I knew you shoulda had that sandwich! Low blood sugar is serious-" Patty said loudly.

Abby regained that creepy smile again. "Hello Patricia." She said, throwing the pipe at her.

Patty tried to dodge but crashed into the table. The lead pipe struck hr hard in the head.

She didn't even have enough time to look surprised. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped to the floor with a sigh, knocked out cold.

Holtzmann was unaware of this. She couldn't hear anything but the voices screaming at her in her head, couldn't see anything but the black spots taking over her vision, couldn't feel anything but the lump forming on her forehead.

Abby strode over to her and grabbed her by the throat.

Holtz's eyes flew open. She yelped as Abby's strong hands squeezed her windpipe. Holtzmann scrabbled at Abby's hands frantically, quickly running out of oxygen. She tried in vain to pry Abby's hands away.

Abby walked over to the window in a few long steps. She slammed Holtz into it with extreme force, and it shattered. Holtz felt little particles of glass penetrating her back.

Holtz tried even harder to escape Abby's grip. Abby smiled at her with angry eyes. "Look at the view." She said, still staring into Holtzmann's scared, blue eyes.

Holtzmann was scared at what she saw in them. Anger. Hate. A thirst for blood.

This was NOT Abby.

"Rowan." She croaked. Not-Abby's grin grew even wider.

"This is fun, right?" She said as an answer.

Holtz gave up on trying to pry not-Abby's hands away, and punched her in the face instead. She felt cartilage crack and she winced.

It did the trick, though. Abby's firm grip loosened slightly, and that was enough. Holtz ripped not-Abby's hands away and leapt onto the windowsill.

Not-Abby roared in frustration. Holtz began running over to her workbench, but her escape was short-lived. Not-Abby grabbed the back of her shirt and hung her out the window.

"Isn't this fun?" Not-Abby said menacingly. Holtz grabbed onto not-Abby's arm.

"Abby-no… please Rowan. Don't do this." Holtz begged. She stared into not-Abby's face, willing her not to let go. She wasn't ready to die.

Not-Abby's grip tightened on her shirt. Not-Abby ripped Holtz's hand from her arm.

"No can do. Goodbye!" She said.

And then she let go.

 **I'm going to warn you in advance-I'm not very good with this science stuff. I'm just a year seven who's obsessed with Ghostbusters.**

 **I'll try my best! Oh, and feel free to correct me if I get any science terms wrong.**

 **Thanks for reading! Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Holtzmann didn't scream as she fell through the air. She didn't even close her eyes. She kept them wide open and stared at the blue sky as it got further and further away.

It felt, to her, that she had been falling for an eternity. Surely she should have hit the ground by now? Maybe time slowed down when you were about to die.

She could sense the ground getting closer. She braced herself for the impact, but it never came.

Something broke her fall. Someone, actually.

"Gahh!" the man yelled as she fell on top of him. 

"Oof." She grunted. "Ow."

The man beneath her was sprawled on his back. He looked up, into her eyes, and said "Well this is awkward."

"Ditto." Holtzmann said. She rolled off of him and helped him up. As soon as he was on his feet she said "Thanks for catching me."

"I didn't catch you, you crushed me!" He said indignantly.

Holtzmann shrugged. "Well thanks anyways."

The man grumbled.

Holtzmann took a look around. She was in front of the firehouse! The one she and Abby had drooled over! The one where Erin told the real estate agent to "Burn in hell."!

She looked up at it. Breathtaking, as it had been the first time.

More importantly, though, how on earth had she got there?

She turned to the man. "Jillian Holtzmann." She said, extending a hand.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Ray Stantz." He said, shaking it. "Uh… are you hurt?"

Holtz looked at him and then herself in confusion. "No-I'm not!" She said, unable to keep the shock from her voice. Her hand flew to her head, where a massive lump had been only minutes before.

She took a closer look at her surroundings. "Ray." She said.

"…Yes?" He asked.

"Can you stay here, please? I need to make a call…"

He nodded. "Um, you can use the telephone inside if you want." He pointed to the firehouse.

"No… I have my own phone… Wait. You work there? Are you a firefighter?" She asked.

"No! I'm a Ghostbuster. Wait-did you say you had your OWN phone?"

She didn't reply. She was staring at him in shock. "What?!" She yelled, the sudden loudness of her voice startling him. He jumped.

She whipped out her smartphone. Ray looked at it curiously. "What is that?" He asked.

Holtzmann shushed him. "Hold on." She said.

She turned on the phone, and started dialling Erin. Erin, because Patty was most likely concussed, Abby was possessed and in no fit state to talk and because Kevin was-Kevin.

Her phone beeped. Siri started speaking. "Your iPhone is not connected to the Internet. Please try again."

Holtmann swore and frantically pressed in Erin's number again. Her phone beeped again and Siri spoke a second time.

"No! Nonononono!" She said to herself over and over again.

Ray gently touched her arm. "Look, I think you need to come inside and sit down."

Holtzmann didn't resist. Ray led her inside and took her to a sofa, which she collapsed onto, still pressing at her phone.

Ray watched her for a bit, before speaking up. "Okay. Ms Holtzmann-" he began, before she cut him off.

"Holtzmann." She said, looking up. "I'm Holtzmann."

"Okay… Holtzmann… First things first, what the hell is that?" He asked, pointing to Holtzmann's phone.

"That's an iPhone. Duh." She said. He looked at her oddly.

"Wait. You don't know what an iPhone is?" She asked, just a hint of panic in her voice.

He shook his head.

"What year is it?" She asked, sounding more and more scared.

"It's 1987…" He said slowly.

Holtzmann's eyes widened. "Cool… but what?!" She grinned. "Oh, joke. I appreciate the humour."

"No, really."

Holtzmann looked at him. Either this man was a very good actor or he was telling the truth, that it was 1987.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Holtzmann let out a long breath. "Well. Shit."

"What's wrong?" Ray asked, getting more and more confused as each second passed.

"I'm from 2016."

 **To the people who reviewed and followed-thanks! I appreciate it.**

 **Hope you liked this chapter. Sorry it was another short one, but the future chapters will be a lot longer, promise.**

 **Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ray blinked at her in surprise. "Wait. What? _2016?!"_

Holtzmann nodded. "Yes. 2016."

Ray's eyes widened. "What year were you born?" He asked.

"1984."

"You should be three years old."

Holtzmann rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the math." She said.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ray insisted she stay at the firehouse. He got her to tell him about herself.

It was only when he asked her what job she had when she looked around.

"You're a Ghostbuster." She said. She wasn't asking him, she said it in a statement.

"Yes…?"

"I'm also a Ghostbuster." She said.

Ray almost laughed. "How?"

Holtzmann frowned. "In 2016 a couple of crazy ladies and I formed a Ghost-fighting/studying group. I'm the engineer. I make proton packs and ghost bombs and pretty much everything we use."

Ray said nothing.

"Do you believe me?" She asked after a long silence.

He looked at her. "Yes."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Okay… She fell from the sky, you say?"

"Yes, Peter, for the love of god! How many times do I need to tell you?"

Peter smirked. "Just trying to annoy you." He flung open the door and entered the room, plonking himself down at the table. 

Ray hurriedly followed him. "Holtzmann?" She grinned at him from the couch.

"This is Peter Venkman. He's one of the Ghostbusters."

Peter smirked at her. "Holtzmann, Ray tells me."

She nodded. "Yup."

"You fell from the sky?"

"Yup." She said again. "Squashed him flat."

Peter laughed. "He said so."

"Anyway," he continued "Ray also tells me you are a Ghostbuster."

Ray huffed from behind Peter. "I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU, PETE!"

Peter turned around. "Relax."

Peter turned back to Holtzmann. "Okay, then. There is no choice except for you to stay with us. You're a fellow Buster, even if you are from 2016."

Holtzmann grinned. "I appreciate it. What's for dinner?"

"We can order in Chinese or something."

"Okay. But no wontons for me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Peter and Ray have told me that you fell from the sky, from a different time." Egon said to Holtzmann as soon as he met her.

"Yup! Squashed Ray." She answered.

"You are from a different dimension, one where we didn't exist."

"Yup! Well, he existed," she pointed to Peter "He was a paranormal debunker."

Peter snorted. "Must've been a really parallel dimension. And what exactly happened to me as a paranormal debunker?"

"Well. Um. A week or so ago, we captured our first ghost, and were sorta interviewed by the news people. You as a paranormal debunker was asked if we were for real. On TV. You said 'Hell no'. And then when you saw us on TV you came to HQ and confronted us. You refused to believe us and then asked to see the ghost. My friend Erin argued with my friend Abby and then let the ghost out against Abby's wishes. Then it threw you out of a window and you went into a coma. Not sure what happened next." She took a deep breath. "Phew. I guess the moral of the story is, don't ask to see a ghost when Erin's in the room."

Peter just stared at her, as Ray fell over laughing. "He...he was a paranormal debunker?"

"Yup." She popped her lips on the 'p'.

Peter grinned sarcastically. "Yeah, okay, so I guess I died."

Holtzmann shrugged. "I dunno. I'd say so, because you fell from a second-storey window."

Egon shifted his glasses. "There would be a chance of him surviving, not a high one, but it depends on how hard he landed. He could be in a coma for the rest of his life.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Holtzmann, thank you _so_ much for introducing me to where I would have ended up if I hadn't started believing in ghosts. Thank you so much." He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Holtzmann put her hand up as if she was in a classroom. "Oh. Did I mention you were an old guy?"

That set Ray off again.

 **CHAPTER! Holtzy will meet Winston, Janine and Dana next chapter.**

 **Review, please!**


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